A MAN has been cleared of drink-driving after a court heard his girlfriend's illness put him in a situation where he had to drive.

Shaun Kynaston put forward a defence of duress by circumstances and said he was desperate to get medical help for his girlfriend, who fell ill while they were camping in North Wales.

Kynaston, 32, who works in scrap metal and demolition, said he was against drink-driving and would never dream of doing it. But that night he was desperate to get help for his girlfriend who was in great pain with irritable bowel syndrome.

Flintshire Magistrates Court heard how Kynaston, of High Street, Winsford, was stopped by North Wales police in April.

Officers in an armed-response vehicle decided to stop his car, which they said was speeding. He failed a breath test and was arrested.

At Mold police station Kynaston gave a reading of 51 microgrammes on the intoxiliser, compared to the legal limit of 35.

Police accepted that when they stopped the car, there was a woman bent double in the front passenger seat, who was screaming.

One officer took the defendant to the police station in the police car, while his colleague drove the defendant's car.

Police said throughout the journey the woman said she was all right, but she was screaming and in obvious distress.

Outside the police station, she was persuaded to allow an ambulance to take her to hospital.

Kynaston told magistrates they had been to visit a friend in Flint, then decided to find a campsite to stay at overnight. But during the evening his girlfriend fell ill.

The couple had been going out a few months at the time, and he knew nothing about her condition.

Kynaston put her in the car and said he would have stopped at the first telephone box he saw in order to get her medical help.

He also wanted to find a hospital, but he didn't know the area. He and Miss Simpson said it was an emergency and she needed to go to hospital.

Defending barrister Nicholas Williams said he was putting forward a defence of duress through circumstances because at the time his client had no option but to seek help for his girlfriend, despite the fact he had drunk three shandies.